This I Believe

If you do not push yourself to do something that’s good for you, will you regret it later? I believe in not giving up; pushing yourself to finish something that you know will be good for you. If you live “the easy life” and you do not push yourself because it hurts or you don’t like how it feels, you won’t benefit from the results you can get. If you push yourself through something, no matter how painful it may seem on the inside or on the outside, you will feel better knowing that you finished it and that you are done.

I love the feeling after I have completed something really hard, and I love being proud of myself for pushing myself even to the limit. I think it’s healthy for people to push themselves to the edge, but it can be harmful to push too hard and go over the edge. Not giving up can be good for the mind, but when pushing too far, it can seriously injure the body and the soul. I do not believe in making things easier for ourselves just so we can live easily. I believe in working hard and not giving up if we really want something.

I am an athlete and a student and I center most of my life on pushing myself to do well even if I do not feel like working hard. When I am doing a really hard assignment, I try my hardest to understand what I am doing and I try with my best effort to complete it, no matter how tedious it seems, or how late I am staying up. I feel better on the inside knowing that I put in the time and effort to do a good job. When I am practicing for one of my sports, I try to resist complaining about what my coach tells me to do, even if it is one of the hardest things I have ever done. I tell myself to get through it because half of the time during practice I am wishing that I am somewhere else, but I know that I am not; but I tell myself to endure practice, because after I am done, I know I will be proud of myself, and then I can relax. During an exhausting practice, my body tells me “Stop! I am tired! I want to rest!” but my mind and soul tell me “Don’t give up! Keep going! You’ll be proud of yourself when you’re done!” and somehow, my mind urges my body to keep going.

I have taught myself to not give up on what I want, and to keep going, no matter how hard it hurts. Not giving up makes me feel better in the end, and it gives me a reason to feel better about myself. I believe in pushing myself to my limit and not giving up with all my heart to hold on to what I want and keep going.

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Top 100 Essays USB Drive

This USB drive contains 100 of the top This I Believe audio broadcasts of the last ten years, plus some favorites from Edward R. Murrow's radio series of the 1950s. It's perfect for personal or classroom use! Click here to learn more.

This week’s essay

Growing up in the former Yugoslavia, lawyer Djenita Pasic enjoyed the peace of her religiously diverse country. But after the fall of communism and the outbreak of the Bosnian War, Pasic was forced to reevaluate her ideas about religion and tolerance. Click here to read her essay.